Teaching Teamwork: GarageBand Photo Podcasting
Teaching Teamwork: GarageBand Photo Podcasting
Teaching Teamwork: GarageBand Photo Podcasting
In this one-week unit, students will use a variety of 21st century workplace and technology skills to answer the question, “What are the building blocks of an effective team?” Students will specifically fulfill the Career Technical Education standard for teamwork by working themselves in teams to create a photo/audio podcast in GarageBand or equivalent software. This project encourages students to engage in creative team activities, think critically about their own work and the work of others
Subjects
Other Grades
K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 >12 Objectives:
Content Objectives:
• Students define characteristics of an effective team.
• Students give examp
Materials:
• Activation Videos about Teamwork and Leadership
• 5-6 Digital still cameras
• Computers for all
Carl Shuptrine
About the author
Procedure:
Duration: 1 week or approx. 5 hours.
I attempted to complete this project in 4 hours (3x50 min classes + 1x 90 min block period) but, due to technical issues between GarageBand and Viddler, was not able to achieve full completion for all groups and had very little time for students to provide feedback. Despite technical issues, most student groups would not have met the day 4 deadline (just over 3 class hours) for completing their podcast and posting it to Viddler for review on day 5. All student groups were able to comfortably complete and post their work to Viddler in 4 hours of class time. This is why I would advise planning 5 total hours of class time for this project so that there is plenty of time for students to review other students’ works and provide feedback.
1. Play a few Teamwork activation videos. Look up teamwork on YouTube and find one you like. Here are a few examples:
a. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I701LUpzaGA&list=FL-GK1qKcZGuapXtPUkA0xpA&index=1
b. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw&feature=BFa&list=FL-GK1qKcZGuapXtPUkA0xpA
c. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF80RqLkl6E&feature=BFa&list=FL-GK1qKcZGuapXtPUkA0xpA&lf=BFa
2. Have students briefly discuss amongst themselves the common themes they saw in the video. Ask for students to share ideas with the entire class.
3. Tell students that over the next week they will be creating a podcast that addresses the question, “What are the building blocks of an effective team?”
4. Give a brief procedural demonstration of how to create a photo podcast in GarageBand or other photo/audio editor.
5. Randomly divide students into teams of 4-5.
6. Provide each group with a printed copy of the project requirements, grading rubric, a list of potential resources, and a digital camera.
7. Inform students they will have the remainder of the current day plus three-four additional class periods to complete the project, and let them begin to work. (Most groups needed 4 additional days to complete their projects)
8. Facilitate brainstorming and assist with technical questions that arise for the duration of the project creation. Assist with conversion from GarageBand .m4a to .mov using QuickTime player and iMovie. (see teacher reflection notes)
9. On the final day after all projects have been posted to Viddler, divide the class into two halves.
10. If students have school-issued email address, have one half compose emails providing the following information:
a. 1 teaching or learning strategy they found effective through the course of the project.
b. 1 teaching or learning strategy they found ineffective through the course of the project.
c. 1 suggestion from improvement for the ineffective strategy
d. 3 things they learned over the course of the project.
If students do not have school-issued email addresses, create a Google Form (or similar survey tool) to collect answers in the form of a spreadsheet. http://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/
11. Have the other half provide critical feedback by posting comments to the Viddler site for the following:
a. 2 other projects
b. Their own project
c. At least one of these postings must be a response to someone else’s feedback.
Students need to use descriptive and interpretive language when providing feedback. Evaluative statements like, “It was good,” or “I liked it” must be supported by observation and interpretation to be acceptable.
12. Once students are done with one task, have them complete the other.
13. Review student emails and create a plus/delta to identify opportunities for improvement for subsequent project cycles.
Assessment:
http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=C5CB32&sp=yes
Technology:
GarageBand – Primarily used for audio mixing, recording, or music creation. Photos can be added to create basic slideshow podcasts. This is used to create the podcasts. Quicktime Player & iMovie – Apple’s free video editing software. These two apps are used to convert GarageBand Podcasts to .mov or .m4v files for upload to Viddler. (See teacher reflection notes) Viddler.com – Viddler is an online video publishing site that provides free ad-supported personal user accounts. This is used for students to post projects online and a platform for providing critical feedback to others.
Reflection:
a) Students will be asked to reflect in two ways. The first will be to email the instructor plus/delta comments; strategies that worked, strategies that didn’t work, a suggestion for improvement, and three things they learned over the course of the project. They will also be required to watch and provide critical feedback for two other projects from their own class, one podcast from another class, and for their own podcast. At least two of these must be responses to others’ comments. b) The instructor will use both the plus/delta comments and the information provided by the students to identify strengths and weaknesses of the project and make adjustments for future projects.
Audience:
My target audience will be high school students, grades 9-12, in my Audio Production and Digital Media Communication classes.
Making Connections:
This project builds on a previous lesson about how to combine individual work completed on multiple different computers into a single project on one computer. Students will be asked to draw on their own experiences of being part of a team. Students will hopefully make connections between the actual group process and their research on effective teams and how that relates to real-world situations.
Comments
Carl,
This is a really neat project. While it meets your Career Technical Education standard, I think it could be very valuable in other classroom scenarios as well. Teamwork is such a necessary skill that students need to learn in addition to typical classroom content. I've taught band and choir, which require a great deal of teamwork. It would be worthwhile for me to explore a project like this. Thanks for the great idea!
Carl, I love the way your students are working together. It's something that never gets old. I also like how the kids are walking the viewer through their thought process; I imagine this is what our CBR project will look like in many ways. The quality of your video is excellent (what camera(s) did you use?), and I love how you are making use of what is already a really popular software. If only we could get some macs in my schools... :(
Using a video and podcasting lesson to scaffold a more general inquiry into teamwork is really wonderful. Clear that they were engaged and enjoying he activities (at least when you had the camera on them:)) but I think I could tell they were mostly beyond that, in fact many of them seemed to be exhibiting flow experience.
Great video documenting the process as well. I really got a good sence of how the lesson unfolded. Frankly, as a member of the left wing media elite, I was surprised at how your kids in Wyoming looked, talked and acted just like the ones I know in Malibu.
Once again shaming us with your excellence in production.
Carl,
Great job with this lesson. Teamwork is such a vital part of what we do. Especially with our broadcasting classes. Just about everything I do with my students is done through student collaboration and group work. I also like how you documented the process through your video. It helps to give your readers a vivid picture of how things are going in your classroom.
I've always wanted to get ideas on how to implement GarageBand in a college-level Media course without getting into music & instruments. This is wonderful idea that can be customized in a number of ways. Using GarageBand for photo podcasts centered around a theme is very easy, collaborative and engaging. Great post!!
Julia Hutchinson
Digital Media Arts Instructor